Options still available for Castleford Tigers to climb table

Tigers lost ground to one of their main top-five rivals with a 31-18 home defeat by Hull last week.

Castleford were 14-4 ahead at the break and levelled the scores in the second half after Hull had hit back to lead, but could not build on a strong first-half performance.

“After the game we spoke about letting ourselves down,” Watts revealed.

“There were a few knock-offs.

“We defend down the right-hand side, defend well, but they get into a good ball-attacking kick, kick-across and score.

“I thought we were the better team, a lot better team. I don’t think they really threatened us much, they had three attacks and three tries and it kills you a bit.”

It was a costly defeat for Tigers who remain fifth in Betfred Super League, but are just two points clear of sixth-placed Salford.

“We will just keep working hard in training and keep trying to build on what we are trying to achieve, but it’s a shame they [Hull] were above us and they’ve gone another two points clear,” Watts added.

“We are really in the thick of it at the minute and we are probably just letting ourselves down and doing it tough to ourselves.”

Last week’s result makes the game in three days’ time crucial.

Watts admitted: “The teams that are in and around us now, we need to be beating.

“We are fighting for a top-five place, there’s a lot of good teams around us and we can’t keep dropping points.

“Two points [last Thursday] would have been a massive boost, but we just came up short.”

The positive for Tigers is, despite recent disappointing results, they are not far off in games and still well in the hunt on the table.

“It is our own doing,” Watts said.

“Against Hull, going in at half-time 14-4 ahead, it is a winnable lead. We have just got to be a lot better with some of our options.”